| The Incident
Seaman August D. Johnson, USNR,
was assigned to River Squadron 5 onboard river patrol boat 51. On
03 February 1967, Johnson and the rest of his patrol boat crew
were on a routine river operation, "Game Warden". At 9:45 p.m.
the boat was proceeding down the Co Chien River west of My Tho,
South Vietnam, when they were directed to assist another river
patrol boat in picking up three men who were found clinging to a
swamped sampan.
As the patrol boats approached,
the crewmen called to the men to swim to their boats. The men
refused. Johnson's boat pursued one of the men, who was
attempting to swim away. The crew threw the man a line and life
ring. As the swimmer was pulled near the boat, he threw a hand
grenade into the patrol boat. It fell on the deck and exploded
seconds later. Johnson and another cremember jumped overboard to
avoid the blast. One crewman stated that he heard him shouting in
the water just after the explosion. Johnson was neither seen nor
heard thereafter. The three Viet Cong that were in the water were
shot by the crew of the other boat (precluding their having
captured Johnson).
An immediate search of the area
was started by eight other river patrol boats and four
helicopters. Flares were dropped and the search progressed
throughout the night without any sign of Johnson. It was the
opinion of the officer in charge that Johnson died and his body
was not recoverable. One major fact that leads one to believe
that Johnson drowned was that he could not swim and that he was
wearing jungle boots and a heavy foul weather jacket at the time
of the incident. Seaman Johnson was listed as Killed in
Action/Body Not Recovered.
Johnson is listed among the
missing because his body was never located to send home to the
country he served.
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